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( S 47TH Congress, i HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ) Mis. Doc. 
•• 2d Session. < ) No. 34. 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



JOHN W. SHACKELFORD, 

(A REPRESENTATIVE FROM NORTH CAROLINA). 



HOUSE (IF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 



FORTY-SEVEXTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION. 






PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1883. 






JOINT EESOLUTION to provide for the publicatw 
in Congiess upon tlie late Join 

Resolved hy the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of 
America in Congress assembled, That there be printed twelve thousand copies 
of the memorial addresses delivered in the Senate and House of Representa- 
tives upon the life and character of Hon. John W. Shackelford, late a Repre- 
sentative from the State of North Carolina, together with a portrait of the 
deceased; nine thousand copies thereof for the use of the House of Represent- 
atives and three thousand copies for the use of the Senate. And a sum 
sufficient to defray the expense of preparing and printing the portrait of the 
deceased for the publication herein provided for is hereby appropriated out 
of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated. 

Approved March 2, 1883. 



t 



ADDEESSES 

ON THE 

Death of John W. Shackelford. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE. 



In the House of Representatives, 

January 18, 1883. 

Mr. Vance. I rise, Mr. Speaker, to the discharge of a painful 
duty. With sincere grief I announce thftt Hon. John W. Shack- 
elford, a Representative from the Stat« of North Carolina, died at 
his residence in this city to-day, of pneumonia, at forty-five minutes 
afler 11 o'clock. Mr. Shackelford, by reason of sickness, has not 
been able to occupy his seat in the House during the present session 
of Congress. He arrived in this city some thirteen days ago, since 
which time he has been growing worse until to-day, when he died. 

On a future occasion the House will be asked to pause in its 
regular business to pay honor to the memory of a worthy and noble 
man. 

I move the adoption of the resolutions which I send to the desk. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Hesolred, That the House has heard with profound sorrow the announcement 
of the death of Hon. John W. Shackelford, late a Representative from the 
State of North Carolina. 

Jiesohed, That the Clerk communicate these proceedings to the Senate. 

Sesohed, That as a token of respect for the memory of the deceased the 
House do now adjourn. 

Tlie Speaker. Before submitting the question on these resolu- 
tions the Chair announces as the committee of escort on tlie part of 

(3) 



4 PROCEEDINGS IN TBE HOUSE. 

the House to accompany the remains of the deceased member to 
the place of burial Mr. Latham of North Carolina, Mr. Hubbs of 
North Carolina, iSIr. Leedom of Ohio, Mr. McKenzie of Kentucky, 
and Mr. De Motte of Indiana. 

The resolutions submitted by Mr. Vance were then adopted 
unanimously ; and in accordance with the last resolution the House 
adjourned. 



In the House op Representatives, 

February 17, 1883. 
Mr. Vance. The hour having arrived fixed by the House as 
the time for delivering appropriate tributes to the memory of 
Hon. John W. Shackelford, late a member of this House from 
the State of North Carolina, I submit the resolutions which I send 
to the Clerk's desk. 

The Speaker. The Clerk will read the resolutions. 
The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, Tbat the regular business of the House be suspended that proper 
honors may be paid to the memory of Hon. JoHK W. Shackelford, late a 
Kepiesentative from North Carolina. 

Resolred, That iu the death of Mr. Shackklfoed the country hag lost a 
good man, a patriotic citizen, and a faithful Representative. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect f r his memory the House, at 
the conclusion of these ceremou its, shall adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Clerk shall communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

The Speaker. One of the resolutions provides that at the con- 
clusion of these ceremonies the House shall adjourn. The question 
is upon agreeing to the resolutions just read. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LATHAM, OF NORTH CAhOLINA. 



Address of Mr. Latham, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker: The mortality araong the members of the Forty- 
seventh Congress has been frightfully great. Eight times since 
we were chosen as the Representatives of the people the angel of 
death has poised its wings over the magnificent dome that crowns 
this structure. Seven times the grim reaper that garners for eter- 
nity has entered this Hall, and at each visit he has left behind him 
a vacant seat draped in the drear and solemn emblems of grief and 
mourning. With stern impartiality he has spared no section, no 
age, no condition. Northern, Southern, and Western firesides have 
alike been made desolate. 

Past services and promises of future usefulness have alike 
pleaded in vain for a short respite. The statesman grown old and 
gray in the constant service of his country; the orator whose elo- 
quence has captivated the fancy and enchained the senses; the sol- 
dier who, "seeking the bubble reputation even in the cannon's 
mouth," has exposed and endangered his life on a hundred battle- 
fields; the suave diplomat who has represented us at foreign courts; 
the old who have almost lived out in the service of their country 
the span of life allotted by the Psalmist, and the young who have 
just entered upon the political arena with burnished armor and 
sharpened spear, whose agile footsteps have but mounted the hill 
of life, and whose eagle eyes see spread out before them a bright 
and glorious future, rich in promise, have alike bowed to the in- 
exorable decree and learned that universal truth that "the paths of 
glory lead but to the grave." They have passed to their last 
silent resting-places in mother earth, and tiie grief that filled their 
far distant homes in every quarter of this Union has found its 
fitting echo within these marble walls. "Man goeth to his long 
home and the mourners go about the streets." 

Amid this great mortality the State that I have tiie honor in 
part to represent has not escaped. She, too, is called upon to place 



6 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

flowers upon the tomb of one of her favorite sons, a son that in 
prosperity and adversity, in peace and in war, in public and in pri- 
vate life, never for one single moment deviated from the straight 
line of duty or faltered in the diseiiarge of a single obligation. 
Bending to-day in mute sorrow above the mound that marks his 
last resting-place, she points with pride to the history of his life 
and bids us emulate it. 

John Williams Shackelford, representing in the present 
Congress the third district of North Carolina, died in the city of 
Washington on the 18th day of January last at mid-day. He was 
comparatively a young man. He would have reached his thirty- 
ninth birthday on the 16th of November next, had he been spared 
so long. Immediately before the reassembling of Congress after 
the Christmas holidays he started, accompanied by his devoted 
wife, from his home to the national capital. He was then suffer- 
ing acutely from a complication of diseases. The journey did not 
improve him and he reached his destination in a condition that 
absolutely prevented his attending to his public duties. He was 
unable to be in his seat at any time afterward. He grew weaker 
day by day. 

The best medical talent in Washington was employetl, and his 
family physician, then and now a distinguished member of the 
legislature of his native State, was summoned to his bedside. His 
loving and devoted wife outwatched the hours as she kept her tire- 
less vigil by his couch. But medical science and the care of friends 
were ali ke in vain. His constitution gradually succumbed, and after 
an illness of two weeks he passed beyond the ken of human vision 
to that " undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler re- 
turns." How long he stood upon the shore of that boundless sea 
that marks the division between this and another life, listening to 
the billows of eternity as they broke ceaselessly at his feet, no man 
can tell. But this I know — for I stood by his bedside at that su- 
preme and solemn hour when his spirit was pluming its wings for 
its flight into eternal space — no misgidngs haunted him, no terrors 
shook his constant soul. Calmly, peaceably, quietly, like a child 
lulled to sleep on its mother's breast, he breathed his last. " Sus- 



ADDRESS OF MR. LATHAM, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 7 

tained and sootlied by an unfaltering trust " lie passed to his eter- 
nal rest — 

Like one that wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, aud lies dowu to pleasant dreams. 

As his sorrowing colleagues and those appointed to attend his 
remains stood around his bier, I am sure there was not one but 
marked the air of calm repose and peace his features had assumed, 
unmarked by a single sign of disease, or doubt, or dread, or fear. 

Mr. Shackelford was the only child of Dr. John Shackelford 
by his first wife. When he was but a few months old he suffered 
that greatest of all misfortunes — the loss of his mother. He was 
raised and educated by his maternal grandfather, Williams Hum- 
phreys, from whom he took in part his uame. 

When the bugle-blast of war sounded its call to arms, when its 
echo reverberated from every bill-top and filled every valley, when 
our citizen-soldiery from the Potomac to the Gulf rallied to the 
standard of the Confederacy and rushed to that conflict which was 
destined to fill so many untimely graves, carry desolation and mourn- 
ing to so many homes, and cost so many millions of treasure, Mr. 
Shackelford was a mere youth of sixteen. With that devotion to 
what he conceived to be his duty, with that constancy that was one 
of his marked characteristics, with that intrepidity that was inborn, 
he shouldered his musket, joined the ranks of his countrymen, and 
marched to the front. 

From the hour that the first shot was fired at Charleston and the 
iron messenger of war and death went speeding its fateful way across 
the broad expanse of waters, crashing against the granite wall of 
Sumter, to the day when the Southern cross faded before the tear- 
dimmed eyes of its faithful followers at Appomattox, his life was 
passed on the " tented field," " amid the pride, pomp, and circum- 
stance of glorious war." When the struggle was over, when the 
arbitrament of the sword had been declared, when the soldiers of 
either army who had survived that terrible conflict were returning 
to their homes, Mr. Shackelford had not attained his majority. 

INIore than four years, the best years of a man's life, the years 
that ought to have been spent within the walls of a school-house 



8 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOUN U: SBACEELFORD. 

in laying tlie foundation for future usefulness and in preparation 
for the grand struggle that must mark every human existence, had 
been in effect lost. Broken in fortune, crushed in spirit, suffering 
from long confinement in a Northern military prison, and without 
the benefit and advantages of that education usual among men in 
his jjosition in life, he entered upon the duties of a citizen with the 
same energy and zeal that had marked his conduct as a soldier in 
camp or on field. He succeeded as all men actuated by such prin- 
ciples succeed. To them there is no such word as " fail." They 
may die and pass from the arena of life ere the goal at which they 
aimed is reached, but even then their lives are in no sense failures, 
since each day has marked their onward progress. 

The people among whom he lived soon recognized his sterling 
qualities and were not slow in rewarding them with political hon- 
ors. For six years in succession he represented his native county 
in the house of representatives of North Carolina, and succeeding 
that he was chosen as senator in the ninth senatorial district, com- 
posed of the counties of Onslow, Jones, and Carteret. In 1880, 
and while holding the office of a State senator, he was called to pre- 
side over the deliberations of a convention summoned to nominate 
a candidate for Congress in the third district. Such was the im- 
partiality, the dignity, and ability with which he conducted its pro- 
ceedings that he was made the nominee of the body over which he 
himself presided, and at the election received a large majority of the 
votes cast. 

From 1872 to the time of his death, a period of more than ten 
years, he was constantly iu official position, and while no brilliant 
episode marked his career, every duty imposed upon him was care- 
fully and conscientiously performed. No higher compliment could 
be paid his integrity than the fact that in all these years no whisper 
was ever heard affecting his character. 

Mr. Speaker, in paying the last tribute of respect and affection 
to the memory of our deceased brother, it is proper to speak of his 
peculiar characteristics. In disposition he was exceedingly retir- 
ing, and modest to a fault. In this he was unjust to himself, for 
his perceptions were remarkably keen, and he was by no means 



ADDRESS OF MR. LATHAM, OF NORTH CAROLINA. y 

deficient in the art of properly expressing himself upon any matter 
in which he was interested. He was of those, however, who pre- 
ferred to listen ratlier than of those who would instruct others. 

Strictly just and impartial, he weighed carefully every argument 
addressed to his reason before coming to a decision ; but the decis- 
ion once made he was firm as adamant. 

To his friends he was most strongly attached, seeming to act upon 
the advice given by Polonius to Laertes on the eve of the latter's 
journey to a foreign land : 

The friends thou hast and their affection tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel. 

In his domestic life he was peculiarly fortunate. He was the 
most devoted of husbands. Married before he was twenty-one and 
without children to divide his affection, his love was centered upon 
one object, the wife of his youth. 

By his neighbors he was held in the highest estimation. Kind 
in his deportment, generous in his dealings, the arbiter of their dif- 
ferences, and the adviser in their difficulties, he retained their esteem 
and regard until the day of his death. 

To his equals he was ever pleasant and obliging, to his inferiors 
gracious and kind. I was particularly struck with a circumstance 
in this regard. He had with him in Washington during his last 
illness, in the capacity of a servant, a colored boy that he had 
brought from his home. During the long and tedious journey to 
the grave among his forefathers the sable follower ceased not to 
weep over tlie death of his friend and protector. Such things speak 
volumes. 

But, Mr. Speaker, if there was anything more marked than 
another in the characteristics of the deceased, it was the great virtue 
of charity, the charity that " thinketh no evil," the charity that 
" covers a multitude of sins." I use the word in that sense that 
conveys the meaning of broad and catholic views. Taught as we 
are by tiie utterances of our Divine Master that it is the greatest 
of all virtues, we may, amid the clash of religious opinion and 
the quarrels of doctrinaires, indulge ourselves in the pleasing hope 



10 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN fT. SHACKELFORD. 

that the vision of Abou Ben Adheni inculcated the highest princi- 
ples of philosophy and religion. 

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase), 

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, 

And saw, within the moonlight in his room, 

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom. 

An angel writing in a book of gold :^ 

Exceeding peace bad made Ben Adhem bold, 

And to the presence in the room he said, 

" What writest thou ?" — The vision rais'd its head, 

And with a look made of all sweet accord, 

Answer'd, "The names of those who love the Lord," 

" And is mine one ? " said Abou. " Nay, not so," 

Replied the angel. Abon spoke more low. 

Bat cheerily still, and said, " I pray thee, then. 

Write me as one who loves his fellow-men." 

The angel wrote and vanish'd. The nest night 

It came again, with a great wakening light, 

And show'd the names whom love of God had bless'd, 

And lo ! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. 

He sleeps in the bosom of his native county, amid the scenes 
and among the friends he loved so well. The sod, green under the 
smile of returning spring, lies lightly on his breast, and his native 
forest, " dewy with nature's tear-drops," mourns his requiem and 
grieves, " if aught inanimate e'er grieves," over the untimely death 
of her favorite son. 



Address of Mr. Randall, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Speaker: It has been written that " nothing so soon recon- 
ciles us to the thought of our own death as the prospect of one 
friend after another dropping around us." If there be real conso- 
lation in this philosophy, it must manifest itself to each one of the 
survivors of the present Congress. In both Houses we hav-e been 
called upon to deplore the loss of those who died in the fullness of 
years and honors. Now it is our duty to pay the last sad tribute 
of respect to one who died comparatively young in years and who 



ADDRESS OF ME. VANCE, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 11 

stood upon the threshold of an opening career replete with the 
promise of usefulness. 

As a Representative of the people of North Carolina, John W. 
Shackelford was untiring in the vigilance with which he guarded 
the interests intrusted to his care. While he was firm and resolute 
in pursuing the course he believed to I)e right, yet he bore himself 
with such modesty and moderation that he seemed to escape the 
sharp antagonism of political contests. 

He commended himself to his associates by his undeviating fidel- 
ity to what he believed to be just toward the Government as well 
as toward individuals. As an honest man his reputation is stain- 
less. 

While it may not be claimed that he was a great orator, yet he 
possessed a calm judgment and careful thought and just action, 
which, after all, bear the burden of the day. Indeed, judging Mr. 
Shackelford from my intercourse with him, I remember no man 
to whom could be more aptly applied the shrewd judgment of 
Horace Walpole : 

To act with common sense, according to the moment, is the best wisdom I 
know ; and the best philosophy to do one's duties, take the world as it comes, 
submit respectfully to one's lot, bless the goodness that has given us so much 
happiness with it, whatever it is, and despise affectation. 



Address of Mr. Vance, of North Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker : " In the midst of life we are in death." 
Death, so called, is with us an abiding presence. The all-wise 
Being has made His intelligent and rational creatures subject to 
death, to teach them a truth that is above all other truths. The 
very fact that man is an heir of pain and death is wisely given to 
him to instruct him that this life is only the beginning of his being ; 
to teach him humility and his dependence on his Maker, and that 
only God is truly great. 

What is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that 
thou makest account of him ? — Psalms, cxliv, 3. 



12 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

Mr. Speaker, death is no respecter of persons. The high, the 
lowly; the rich, the poor ; the famous, the obscure ; the mighty, the 
feeble ; the aged, the young ; the man, the woman — 

Await alike the inevitable hour. 

Even — 

The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

No human being can avoid the shafts of the arch-enemy of the 
race. The ponderous lock, the triple bar of steel, the immense wall 
of rock, and squadrons and legions, flashing blades, waving banners, 
and the form incased in seemingly impenetrable armor — all, all are 
in vain ! 

Ahab, King of Israel, disguised himself when ho entered the bat- 
tle to recover Ramoth Gilead, but " a certain man drew a bow at a 
venture and smote the King of Israel between the joints of the har- 
ness, and the King died and was brought to Samaria." 

Death has spoken to us many times during the present Congress. 
We have already paid proper and becoming tribute to the memory 
of our noble contemi)oraries who have follen asleep. 

The great Father by his providence called each of them and said : 
Go to the grave ; at noon from labor cease ; 

Rest on thy sheaves ; thy harvest work is done. 
Come from the heat of battle, and in peace. 
Soldier, go home : with thee the fight is won. 

We have checked for a moment the ordinary business of the 
House, the excitement of debate, and the anxious interest incident 
to legislation, to perform a lioly duty in memory of another. Hon. 
John W. Shackei.ford, late a member of this Congress from the 
State of North Carolina, was born in Onslow County, North Caro- 
lina, on the 16th day of November, 1844 ; consequently he was 
thirty-eight years two months and two days old at the date of his 
death, which occured in this city, as heretofore announced, on the 
18th of January, 1883, at forty-five minutes after 11 o'clock a. m. 

Your servant has no means of stating Mr. Shackelford's edu- 
cational advantages, as no facts on this point have been furnished 
him. 

Mr. Shackelford entere<i the Confederate army at the early age 
of 17 years, in Company H, Third North Carolina Regiment. He 
was afterward elected to a lieutenancy in the Tliirtv-fiftii North 



ADDBESS OF MB. VANCE, OF NOBTH CABOLINA. Vi 

Carolina Regiment. He was captured near Greenville, North 
Carolina, and suiFered a long and painful captivity in Point Look- 
out prison for Confederate soldiers. He was elected to the legisla- 
ture of his native State in 1872. In 1876 he was elected to the 
senate of North Carolina. Mr. Shackei.FORd's services as a legis- 
lator were highly appreciated in his State. His affable manners, 
gentle character, and courteous demeanor, as well as his careful at- 
tention to his duties, won him many friends and admirers. 

In 1880 the district convention held at Fayetteville nominated 
liim for a seat in the Forty-seventh Congress without any effort on 
his part. He was elected over his opponent, W. P. Cannady, by 
1,339 majoi'ity. Mr. Shackelford, while not taking a very ac- 
tive part in the debates in Congress, was known to be a man of fine 
sense and excellent parts. The speeches he made were of an order 
showing sound thought and wise statesmanship. He was remark- 
ably attentive to his duties, always in his seat unless detained from 
the House by sickness or unavoidable absence. The peculiar char- 
acteristics of our lamented colleague were probably modesty and 
tenderness of heart, coupled with a generous and liberal spirit. As 
an evidence of his modesty, the Congressional Directory has only 
the following notice of his life, as furnished by himself: 

John W. Suackelford, of Jacksonville, was bom in North Carolina, 
November 16, 1H44 ; was elected to the Forty-seventh Congress as a Democrat, 
receiving 16,:J56 votes against 15,017 votes for Cannady, Republican, and 645 
votes for Komegay, Greenback candidate. 

No mention is made of his political or military history. Our 
departed friend was of most liberal character, especially to the poor. 
On his table during his illness there were found several letters 
from friends and constituents, who had confidently asked for re- 
lief in time of ti-ouble and need. 'When, toward the end of the 
struggle, his mind wandered, his thought seem to be with those in 
want or in circumstances of difiiculty. At one time, after he be- 
came unconscious, he said, " The poor woman only lacked five hun- 
dred dollars in paying for her place." 

Mr. SitACKELFORD was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church South, and a firm believer in the doctrines of the Bible. 

He was not renominated for Congress, but he entered the canvass 



14 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

earnestly and came out of it sick. Endeavoring to reach Wash- 
ington that he might resume his duties here, he left home ill. After 
getting here he suffered from a relapse and grew worse until the 
date mentioned, when the silver cord was loosed, the golden bowl 
was broken, and the pitcher broken at the fountain. 

Mr. Shackelford left no child to inherit his virtues and his 
good name. His widow, with whom we sympathize in her great 
loss, has returned to her home in North Carolina. 

John W. Shackelford is dead. We shall meet, but we shall 
miss him. Another is added to the great company already gone 
before. Who among us of all this assembly will go next ? What 
solemn warnings come to us from these frequent and mournful calls ? 

The one who now addresses you is reminded of how near the 
wings of death have touched him since his membership in this bod3\ 
Hon. Gustave Schleicher, in a former Congress, as chairman of the 
Committee on Railways and Canals, occupied a seat at the head of 
his committee which your servant occupied, as chairman of another 
committee, on another day ; Hon. Beverly Douglas, of Virginia, 
touched elbows with him in committee ; and, lastly, Mr. Shackel- 
ford sat immediately on his left in the Forty-seventh Congress. 
They have all passed the last river and have gone to their long 
homes. 

It is well for us, Mr. Speaker, that faith sustains us in these ' 
moments of mortal anguish. The grand apostle of the Gentiles 
has stated a strange but wonderful truth : 
For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. — Philijipians, i, 21. 

It is absurd to say that the mattock, the spade, the winding-sheet, 
the cofiSn, the grave, and the maggot are the factors of the gain the 
great writer speaks of. He certainly meant that the gain is em- 
braced in the sublime doctrine that the soul and body of one who 
loves God can never perish. Beautiful and precious is the faith 
which teaches that God ha.s in His keeping the dust of those we 
loved and who loved him. 

And ever near us, thongh unseen, 
The dear immortal spirits tread ; 
For all the boundless universe 
Is life ; there are no dead. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LEEDOM, OF OHIO. 15 



Address of Mr. Leedom, of Ohio. 

Mr. Speaker : Ap;ain has the hand of death descended and 
struck down one from among us, one who liad been in this Hall 
but a brief time, but in tliat time lie had won tlie higliest regard 
from all with whom he had come in contact; one who had shown 
his great capacity for the performance of duty and a devotion to 
the interests he represented worthy of the highest encomium. 

John W. Shackelford, a Representative from the grand Old 
North State, has ended his brief stay with us, and judging from the 
life that he led it may be believed that his life here had fitted him 
for a happy one in the future. 

The sad duty has devolved upon me of speaking of his death, 
of saying to the people of his section of the country how he bore 
his part among us. I undertake this duty with fear and trembling 
lest I should fail to say all that might be said and that ought to be 
said of my departed colleague ; and yet I appreciate at its true value 
the privilege which is afforded me of paying a deserved tribute to ' 
his memory; and should I fall short of my whole duty in the per- 
formance, it will be attributable alone to the feelings of regret and 
sorrow which shall overcome me. His seat on this floor was next 
to mine; and although the days when he sat there were not many, 
the kindly nature of the man, the strength of character which dis- 
tinguished him, and his agreeable ways won my admiration and 
esteem. 

Now that chair is vacant, and that vacancy whispers to me that 
death has been there, and it impels me to say, of this kindly and 
amiable man, the words which should bespoken and recorded where 
they may be preserved, that his people may know how high a place 
he took in the minds and hearts of those among whom his new field 
of usefulness lay. He was proud of his birth-place, proud of the 
Old North State, and her earnest champion. He gloried in the 
record of the achievements of her famous sons in the Colonial and 
Revolutionary days; their names were treasured words with him, 
which he held most sacred, and when he would recite their deeds of 



16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JORN W. SHACKELFORD. 

gallantry he seemed, in his enthusiasm, to lose sight of his own 
identity, and ascended to the loftiest heights ; and proud as he may 
have been of his native State, she had as much cause to be proud of 
him. 

In the lives and actions of these defenders of liberty he found the 
example of his own following. Emulating their probity, heroism, 
and patriotism, he had advanced step by step, his bold energy ex- 
citing him to exertion, his sterling integrity keeping him always on 
the right course. A laudable and wortliy ambition counseling him 
to aim at the highest eminence, and a love of country, which was 
part of his existence, consecrating him to her service, he mounted 
to that high pinnacle of fame and honor on which so many of North 
Carolina's sons had stood before him. 

He had passed away at the time when the powers of his mind 
were attaining their greatest strength and the largest opportunities 
were being offered to him for their exercise. 

John Williams Shackelford was born in Richlands, tlie pros- 
perous and lovely portion of Onslow County, North Carolina, on 
November 16, 1844, and was the only child of Indiana Ambrose 
Humphrey and Dr. John Shackelford. His mother died soon after 
his birth. He remained with his grandfather, William Humphrey, 
who raised and educated him. When the war between the sections 
took place, he enlisted as a private in the Southern army, being then 
but seventeen years of age, and performed service in that capacity 
in Company H, Third North Carolina Regiment, until his election 
to the grade of lieutenant in the Thirty-fifth Regiment North Car- 
olina Volunteers. He Mas taken prisoner near Greenville, North 
Carolina, and was confined as a prisoner of war at New Berne, 
Norfolk, Fortress Monroe, and Point Lookout for the spac« of fif- 
teen months. 

He married Miss Kate Wallace in August, 1865. His life was 
chiefly spent in agricultural pursuits, in which he had acquired a 
competence and happiness. He was drawn into political life rather 
by the demands of his people than of his own volition. He served 
with distinction in the State legislature and was chosen to represent 
his district in the Forty-seventh Congress. He was again a candi- 



I 

J 



ADDRESS OF MR. LEEDOM, OF OHIO. 17 

date for the nomination, Ijefore the Democratic convention, for elec- 
tion to the Forty-eighth Congress, but when the nomination was 
given to another, without hesitation, in spite of his failing health, 
which wholly unfitted him for the fatigues and labor incident to a 
political canvass, he threw himself with ardor into the contest, de- 
voting his great etforts to secure the success of the Democracy, with- 
out regard to himself or his failure to receive the nomination. He 
labored in that canvass with all the earnestness of his nature, and 
with the same zeal that he would have exhibited had he been the 
standard-bearer of his party. And to these sacrifices is largely 
attributable the malady which has terminated so fatally for him. 

He was alone in the world; and the only inmate of his house- 
hold, of his own family, left to mourn his untimely departure, was 
his loving wife. There is nothing to perpetuate his name, except 
the love of his people and the honorable record of his deeds, but 
these will prove sufficient to preserve his memory from the decay 
of time, and keep the words of approval, which are deeply graven 
on the memorial shaft raised by the gratitude of a nation, to pre- 
serve the names of honest, noble men from mould and defacement. 
The unswerving consistency of his conduct in life had made him 
known generally throughout his section of the State, and it is one 
of the boasts of his people that he has not an enemy in all that 
land; that every man was his friend. His opportunities were 
few, at the commencement of his Congressional career, to exhibit the 
qualities which he possessed, but on one occasion he submitted 
some remarks on the tariff question which created a profound 
impression, and furnished unanswerable evidence of the wide and 
logical grasp of his mind. 

During the second session his health was such as to entirely 
preclude his attendance on the House, and he was confined to 
his bed soon after his arrival at the capital and lingered but 
a short time when the pale messenger came. He was quiet and 
reserved in manner, and this was caused largely by the workings 
of his well-disciplined mind, which he had trained and tutored 
to conform to those principles M-hich he had been taught from the 
beginning were those which formed the heritage of the descendants 
of the colonists of North Carolina. 
2 SH 



18 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

From New Hanover and Brunswick Counties, both of which 
are within the Congressional district represented by the lamented 
ShackeIwFord, in the days when the principles of liberty were 
trembling in the balance and hanging by a hair, threatened by 
English dominance and tyranny, came those three distinguished 
patriots, John Ashe, Samuel Ashe, and Judge Maurice Moore, 
whose intrepidity and grand abilities, even at that early day, 
attracted the attention of the world and brought into subjection 
and submission the enemies of liberty on our soil. And there 
their memories have been kept green, and fathers have taught 
their sons, and these their sons, that the declaration in the North 
Carolina "Bill of Eights," adopted by the State convention, of 
which these men were members, in 1776, "That all political 
power is vested in and proceeds from the people," was a holy 
and sacred truth to be maintained and cherished forever; and 
it was from a constituency proud of its traditions, proud of the 
prowess and independent spirit of the Ashe brothers, and of the 
scholarly and elevated character of the great jurist and honest 
judge, Maurice Moore, whose letters signed "Atticus," addressed 
to the governor of the province, shook English domination in 
America to its center, that of all the men who walked in the 
path of those who had so illustrated the higher qualities of man- 
hood John W. Shackelford was chosen as the representative 
of the people to-day as a token that the same love of liberty, the 
same regard for the rights of the people, prevailed in that country 
to-day. 

It is a special cause of sadness to those who have been the 
associates and friends during life of this representative man of 
their people that he leaves none behind him to perpetuate his 
name and carry on his good work. With him this noble race of 
men dies. No child will with pride point to his father's goodly 
life; no daughter rear her children to reverence his name. All 
are gone. There is no father, mother, or child who may be taken 
to the people's heart and loved and cherished for the sake of him 
whose life has been so true. 

It was my sad duty to accompany his remains to his home and 



ADDBESS OF MR. MOREY, OF OHIO. 19 

his mourning widow, and when I saw her in tiie bereft homestead 
all the light had gone out of her life. All that she had to 
say was that she was ready to go with him. She sits now in lone- 
liness at the home which his presence made so bright and happy. 
We can alleviate her grief, perhaps, by giving to our kindly 
thoughts of him expression, which will let the world know how 
we honored him and how we recognized his worth and Christian 
.qualities. Although the announcement of the time of his burial 
was short, the concourse that assembled was great. They oarae 
from every quarter, from every county in his district, to join in 
the last sad rites of their departed friend. Such sincere universal 
grief I have never witnessed. It was a spontaneous outpouring 
of public sorrow, which prowd how well these people had loved 
their dead Representative. It spread a pall of gloom over the 
entire community, and the condolences extended to the bereaved 
widow were deep and heartfelt. Sadly I saw his body placed 
beneath the sod, while grief was manifest on every face. Peace 
to his ashes; and may his life teach a lesson to those who come 
after him which will bring forth good fruit. 

He rests now; quiet sleeps. 
And tbe wind sad requiem keeps, 
And wafts aloft the gentle sigb, 
Ready to go am I. 



Address of Mr. Morey, of Ohio. 

In obedience to an immemorial custom, which has been honored 
by long observance, this House has again ceased from the ordinary 
duty of legislating for the country, to pay a tribute of respect to 
the memory of one who was lately a member of this body. This 
is a custom which is in harmony with the sentiment and practices 
of universal human-kind, and springs from a recognition of the 
divine in human nature. It is the tribute which moral, intellect- 
ual, and spiritual excellence and power pay to themselves. 

An almost universal belief exists among men of all nations in 
all parts of the habitable globe that there is in each individual the 



20 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

germ of immortality, which expands by the process called death, and 
enters by the portal called the grave into the dawn of a future life, 
in which their moral, intellectual, and spiritual powers shall expand 
and grow and attain to a development and excellence whose prom- 
ise is only outlined in the experience and development of this 
world. 

It is iu response to this universal sentiment and belief, which is 
formulated in and is a distinctive part of the religions and philos- 
ophies of the world, that all classes of men in all natious-and in all 
times and ages have paused to pay tributes of respect and love to 
the memory of their contemporaries and associates who have paid 
nature's last debt and have gone to fulfil the destiny of the race. 
The sentiment, too, which makes it unseemly to speak ill of the 
dead is a manifestation of the divine nature which is everywhere 
ascribed to man's higlier existence and stamps him with immor- 
tality. 

John Wii.liams Shackelford, a Representative in tiie Forty- 
seventh Congress of the United States from North Carolina, was 
born in the town of Richland, in the county of Onslow, in that 
State, on the 16th day of November, A. D. 1844, and was in the 
thirty-ninth year of his age at the time of his death. 

The third Congressional district, which it was his honor to repre- 
sent in the chief legislative council of the nation, is composed of the 
counties of Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Cumberland, 
Duplin, Harnett, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Sampson, and 
Pender. It comprises a large part of the old North State and is 
rich in its Colonial and Revolutionary history. Its local history 
is contemporaneous with the discovery and settlement of the New 
"World and with the struggle of the Colonies for independence and 
the growth of our common country to its present proud position 
among the nations of the earth. 

Representative Shackelford was born and reared in the dis- 
trict which he represented, and the honorable constituency which 
conferred on him the high office and trust which lie enjoyed at the 
time of his death were his neighbors and friend's. They had known 
him through life, and by that preferment paid a tribute to his per- 
sonal worth and to his value as a citizen and a public man. 



ADDRESS OF MR. MOREY, OF OHIO. 21 

His life was brief. His career was unostentatious, yat an eventful 
one. Few men at the age of thirty-nine years have so thoroughly 
identified themselves with the events of their time or performed so 
conspicuous a part in the aflPairs of their State and country. Witii 
him it was so done with a quiet unobtrusiveness that almost with- 
drew him from public gaze. 

At the early age of seventeen years, that hopeful, buoyant, and 
chivalric period in life, when every energy responds to the impulses 
of the heart, Mr. Shack ei^ford, in obedience to his honest convic- 
tion of duty, and desiring to serve a cause which he believed to be 
right, entered as a private soldier in the Third North Carolina regi- 
ment in the Confederate army. He was subsequently promoted to 
the position of lieutenant. During that memorable conflict he 
attested by his personal courage and exposure to the hazards of war 
the sincerity of his convictions and the integrity of his purpose. 

In the year A. D. 1 872 he was elected to the lower house of the 
State Legislature of North Carolina and was twice re-elected, serv- 
ing until the year 1878, when he was elected to the State senate. 
In the year 1880 he was elected a member of the Forty-seventh 
Congress, becoming the nominee of his party at a convention over 
which it was his honor to preside, a circumstance which shows that 
his nomination was unsought for and unexpected by him, and was 
a voluntary tribute of confidence by those who knew him well, and 
knew him only to respect and to love him. 

On the organization of this House, at the beginning of its first 
session, it was my honor to be associated with our late colleague as 
members of the Committee on Private Land Claims. He was 
apparently always in feeble health since it was my honor to know 
him. As a member of the committee on which we were associated 
as members I had opportunity to know him better, perhaps, than 
those who did not bear similar relations to him. He was a man 
not given to demonstration of any kind ; quiet and polite in his 
demeanor, but of a retiring disposition, he impressed his accjuaint- 
ance little upon men with whom official or personal duty did not 
bring him in contact and association. In my intercourse witli 
Representative Shac^kelfoed I came to know him and to esteem 



22 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHX IV. SHACKELFORD. 

him as a man of sincere couvictious, of integrity of character, of 
kindliness of feeling and of singlenesH of purpose to faithfully rep- 
resent the constituency who commissioned him. And I bring now, 
in addition to the common tribute of mankind to the memory of 
departed members of the race, this tribute of my friendship and 
respect. 

The Speaker. And now, in pursuance of resolutions alreadv 
adopted, the Chair declares this house adjourned. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE SENATE. 



In the Senate, 

January 18,1883. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McPher- 
son, its Clerk, communicated to the Senate the intelligence of the 
death of John W. Shackelfohd, late a member of the House 
from the State of North Carolina, and transmitted the resolutions 
of the House thereon. 

Mr. Ransom. Mr. President, deeply aifeeted as my colleague 
and I are at the sorrowful announcement, I ask that the resolu- 
tions of the House be laid before the Senate. 

The President pro tempoi-e. The resolutions of the House of 
Representatives will be read. 

The Acting Secretary read as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, January 18, 1883. 

Resolved, That the House has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. John W. Sh.vckelford, a Representative from 
.;he State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these proceedings to the Senate. 

Resolved, That as a token of respect for the memory of the deceased the 
House do now adjourn. 

Mr. Ransom. Mr. Presideut, at a proper time my colleague and 
myself will ask the Senate to unite with the House in rendering 
ceremonies of proper respect to the memory of our lamented asso- 
ciate of the House. At present I will ask that the resolutions 
which I send to the desk bo read. 

The Acting Secretary read the resolutions, as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the death of Hon. John W. Shackelford, late a Representative 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That the President pro tempm-e appoint a committee of three Sena- 
tors to join a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to 
escort the remains of the deceased to his late home iu North Carolina. 

23 



24 LIFE AND CHAUACTER OF JOHX JC. SHACKELFOSD. 



The resolutions were agreed to iiiianimouslv. 

The President ^jco tempore. The Chair appoints as the com- 
mittee provided for in tlie resolutions the Senator from North 
Carolina [Mr. Ransom], the Senator from Tennessee [Mr. Jack- 
son], and the Senator from Wisconsin [Mr. Sawyer]. 

Mr. Raxsom. Mr. President, as a further mark of respect to 
the memory of the deceased, I move that the Senate do now ad- 
journ. 

The motion was agreed to ; and tlie Senate adjourned. 



Ix THE Senate, 

February 17, 1883. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. McPher- 
.sou, its Clerk, transmitted to the Senate the resolutions adopted by 
that body concerning the death of John W. Shackelford, late 
a member of the House from the State of North Carolina. 

Mr. Ransom. I ask that the resolutions of the House be laid 
before the Senate. 

The Presiding Officer. The Chair will lay before the Senate 
the resolutions of the House of Representatives, which will be 
read. 

The Acting Secretary r(>a(l as follows : 

Resolved, That the regular business of this House be suspended that proper 
honors may be paid to the memory of Hon. John W. Shackelford, late 
a Representative from North Carolina. 

7i'eso/r«rf, That in the death of Mr. Shackelford the country has lost a 
good man, a patriotic citizen, and a faithful Representative. 

Resolved, That as a further mark for his memory the House, at the conclu- 
sion of these ceremonies, shall adjourn. 

Resolved, That the Clerk communicate these resolutions to the Senate. 

Mr. Ransom. I now ask the Secretary to read the resolutions 
which I send to the Chair and ask the adoption of 



ADDRESS OF MB. lUXSOil, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 25 

The Acting Secretary read as follows : , 

Resolred, That the Senate has heard with profound sorrow the announce- 
ment of the'death of Hon. John W. SnACKELFORD, late a Representative 
from the State of North Carolina. 

Resolved, That the Senate suspend its business in order that the friends of 
the deceased may have opportunity to pay fitting tributes to his private and 
public virtues. 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the memory of the deceased 
the Senate, at the conclusion of such proceedings, do adjourn. 



Address of Mr. Ransom, of North Carolina. 

Mr. President: John ^yILLIAMS Shackelford, Represen- 
tative in Congress from the third district of North Carolina, ex- 
pired at his residence in this city on Thursday, the 18th of, Jan- 
uary, at fifteen minutes before 12 o'clock m. 

It is with feelings of very deep emotion that with my colleague 
I ask the Senate to pause in its deliberations and to render to this 
lamented son of our State a fitting testimony of respect. To me 
the performance of this duty is not the observance of a cold cere- 
monial. It is from a heart deeply touched with grief at the death 
of a long-cherished friend. As one of the Senators from North 
Carolina I bring here to-day the memorials of a State's grief and 
respect, but with these I must mingle the offerings of a friend's 
sorrow and tears. 

John Williams Shackelford was b(jrn at Richlands, in 
Onslow County, North Carolina, on the 16th of November, 1844. 
His father. Dr. John Shackelford, was a gentleman of intelligence 
and high social position. His mother was Indiana Humphreys, 
daughter of Colonel William Humphreys, of the same county. 
She died vay soon after the birth of her son, whose guardianship 
and education devolved on his grandfather, Colonel Williams 
Humphreys, a gentleman of large fortune and great force of char- 
acter. At the age of seventeen years young Shackelford left col- 
lege and volunteered as a private in the Southern arm}'. He was 
subsequently elected a lieutenant in a regiment distinguished in the 
war for high discharge of duty, was soon afterward taken prisoner 
of war, and suffered a long captivity. His reputation in the army 



26 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. ' 

was that of a brave, faithful, generous, oonscientiou;?, modest sol- 
dier. In August, 1865, he was married to Miss Catharine Wal- 
lace, a lady of great excellence of character, who survives him. 

In 1872 Mr. Shackelford was elected from the county of 
Onslow to the house of representatives of the legislature of North 
Carolina, and was likewise returned in 1874 and again in 1876. 
In 1878 he was elected to the senate of his State from the district 
composed of the counties of Onslow, Carteret, and Jones, and in 
1880 he was elected by a large majority as a Representative in Con- 
gress from the third district of North Carolina, a district long and 
justly eminent for the high character, intelligence, and patriotism 
of its people ; a district from the people of which, first in all the 
country, supplies of succor and sympathy were sent in the earliest 
hours of the Revolution to the proscribed patriots of Boston ; a 
district represented in Congress by McKay, Ashe, Winslow, and 
Waddill ; and it is the simple justice of history to declare that in 
all the moral qualities »f patriotism, fidelity to duty, devotion to 
the people, honor in all things, Mr. Shackelford was the 
worthy successor of the illustrious men who preceded him. 
He died, as I have said, in this city during his term of office, 
surrounded and comforted by his devoted wife and affectionate 
relatives and friends. 

At the capital of his State, in various towns and villages in his 
district, and by the whole press of North Carolina worthy tributes 
have been rendered to his memory. 

Upon this occasion, in speaking of Mr. Shackelford, I must 
endeavor to suppress the natural emotions of attachment and grat- 
tude. He was always my friend, disinterested, devoted, faithful, 
and my heart impels me to cover his tomb with laurels. But his 
love of truth was so deep, active, and constant that could his wish 
at this hour be known he would not have me heighten one beauti- 
ful color of his nature or soften one simplicity of his character. 

Mr. President, the seven wonders of the world have contributed 
very little to the happiness or glory of mankind. The Pyramids 
of Egypt, the Colossus at Rhodes, the statue of Memnon are sim- 
ple monuments of human vanity, and the same truth mav with 



ADDRESS OF MR. RANSOM, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 27 

almost ecjual justice be spoken of the couquests of Alexander, the 
victories of Caesar, and the fortunes of Bonaparte. Samson had 
power to tear down the temple which the steady labors of thou- 
sands of devoted workmen had erected. His supreme strength 
accomplished no great and good result for the world. Mankind 
do not owe as large a debt of gratitude to remarkable characters as 
we generally imagine. It is the great, constant force of the num- 
bers of good, strong, useful men which consummates the great results 
in history. The dome which surmounts this beautiful Capitol 
attracts the admiration of every beholder, but the deep and broad 
foundations, the solid and well-proportioned pillars, the lofty col- 
umns, the unbending arches, though less conspicuous, constitute 
the strength, the utility, and the grandeur of the structure. 

Mr. Shackelford was not a brilliant man. He was not re- 
markably distinguished for genius or learning or eloquence. He 
was never the " observed of all observers." But he possessed in 
very large measure the qualities that make great and good men. 
He had excellent common sense. He was a good judge of the 
relation of means to ends. He was decidedly and eminently a 
practical man. He saw things as they were — in their true and 
real light. No illusions, no phantoms, no chimeras, no mirages de- 
ceived his clear sight and sense. His moral qualities were always 
in the ascendant. Honor, fidelity, truth, courage, conscience were 
ever with him and of him. He believed in what was true. He 
loved what was honorable. He practiced what was just. No man 
ever more faithfully followed his convictions of right. ' He scorned, 
a,s he was free from, all artifices. He moved on straight lines 
from point to point, and in all things and at all times bore himself 
directly and erectly. Evasion, equivocation, indirection found not 
one particle of favor in his upright nature. To these strong qual- 
ities he united the high sentiments of generosity, magnanimity, 
and sympathy for his fellow-man. 

He was happy when he saw others happy, and always deeply 
affected by human suffering. As an illustration of this fact I know 
tiio Senate will pardon me for an allusion to the last incident of his 
manly life. In those extreme moments when the shadows of death 
were hovering over mortal intelligence and the light of reason was 



28 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

struggling in that transient eclipse which so often precedes the pas- 
sage from world to world, the ruling passion of his noble nature 
asserted itself, and the last words which he spoke revealed the good- 
ness of his heart. " That poor woman's home must be saved. I 
must help her." A desolate widow had appealed to him to save 
lier home, and this was his answer from the very gates of deatli. 
No nobler words ever passed the lips of man. " Woman ! " her 
" home ! " " help " for her ! There is embodied all that is noblest, 
dearest, and best. By the side of these words how poor are " tUe 
d'arm&e" " I am the state," and the other famous expressions at- 
tributed to the illustrious when dying ! 

Mr. Shackelford was a patriot in every sense of that great 
and beautiful word. His country was always before his eyes, and 
always uppermost in his heart. For its welfare and honor no 
sacrifice was too dear. In all things his country was first ; her lib- 
erties, her institutions, her history, her destiny, her very physical 
characteristics, everything of his country, was most dear to him. 
He esteemed it the greatest of honors to serve his country. The 
just reputation of being tlie faithful repi'esentative and benefactor 
of his peojjle was the jewel which he sought. He looked upon that 
country as a young and noble lover would behold the loveliest of 
virgins, and think and feel it the highest and best duty and fortune 
to be constantly faithful and to secure her confidence and aflection 
only by deserving them. 

No man in all the Soutii was more devoted to iier fortunes ; but 
when hostilities ceased no man sooner or more geuerouslv buried 
all sentiments of sectional enmity. In his earnest, practical, hope- 
ful, manly breast there was no place for revenges, no room for bit- 
ter memories, no time for hopeless repinings. He desired to do 
something for the present and the future and not to look back in 
despair on the troubled past. He permitted nothing to embarrass 
ills devoted purpose to restore and preserve the peace, honor, and 
happiness of his entire country. He loved witii his whole soul the 
South ; but he knew tliere was no conflict between that devotion 
and his duty to the Union. His attachment to his State, his dis- 
trict, his county, his own people, was so sincere and honest and in- 
tense that it made him love and honor the same virtue in others. 



ABDSESS OF MR. RANSOM, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 29 

More than all, infinitely more than all, Mr. President, Mr. 
Shackelford was a Christian. We cannot penetrate the heart 
or head and know their mysteries. I know not by what process 
of reason, in what form of conviction, or through what experience 
or by what impulse his faith came, but that faith was in him, and 
as clear to him as the daily light of heaven came to his physical 
eye and gave him knowledge of all things around him. It is not 
for me to speak of these great truths — the immortal life, the per- 
fect law, the Supreme Ruler. When I consider the infinite igno- 
i-ance and darkness of my state beside the wisdom and light which 
governs and blesses the universe, the past, the jiresent, the future, 
it would be audacious and pitiful presumption for me to speculate; 
with deepest humih'ty I should take the law as the most helpless 
child takes the law from the best of parents. I, who cannot con- 
tinue my life for a moment ; whose reason may be dethroned in 
an instant ; who cannot sec into the future for one second of time ; 
who cannot comprehend the origin or nature of my own being ; I, 
the merest atom in the inconceivable creation, who may pass away 
in the twinkling of an eye, presume to "scan the Almighty, the 
Eternal, the Maker of all things!" Mr. Shackelford was a 
Christian, sincere, practical, fervent. He had a Christian's courage, 
a Christian's charity, a Christian's grace. He was not bigoted, 
nor intolerant, nor critical. His piety was liberal, just, beneficent ; 
it shone in his daily life, in his kind words and kinder deeds, his 
regard, his compassion for and his duty to his fellow-man. 

By yonr appointment, Mr. President, in company with my hon- 
ored friends the Senator from Tennessee and the Senator from 
Wisconsin, together with a committee of the House, I went with 
his mortal remains to his home in North Carolina. I shall never 
forget the day and the occasion. Saturday, the 20th of January, 
1 883, dawned in clouds and showers. We had reached the beauti- 
ful village of Kinston, North Carolina. The whole face of nature 
was drooping with rain, which fell so heavily that liearts less faith- 
ful than those of the friends I have just named and of the gentle- 
men of the House would have faltered in their duty. Slowly the 
funeral procession left the sad village, and for thirty-five miles, 



30 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

through a country of dense forest and thinly settled, and along a 
road but little traveled, took its silent way to the place of burial. 
It was a singular scene. 

The tall, long-leafed pines towered above us with tiicir stately, 
solemn heads almost to the clouds ; their denuded trunks, glisten- 
ing like snow with the white rosin incrusted all over them, ap- 
peared as shrouded watchers and sentinels of another world. The 
dark, dismal forests, with the gloomy cypress and the weeping 
ivies as they hung in wreaths of sable-green over our pathway — 
all were fitting emblems of sorrow. Ever and anon along the 
highway we were met by small groups of people who had come in 
their bereavement to pay the last offices of respect to their states- 
man and neighbor. Late in the evening, when the shadows were 
already darkening the western horizon, we reached Richland, a 
very small village with a few simple but tasteful buildings. 

In the center of the village stood a large white church, one of 
those venerated edifices so common over the South, and in that 
church the people of tiie county had gathered. We were at the 
home of John W. Shackelford. We had taken to his people 
his earthly tabernacle. We there met and saw his neighbors, his 
friends, his countrymen; the aged, the middle-aged, the young, 
both sexes, white and colored — all were there. The rich and the 
poor, the high and the lowly, without social or political distinction, 
all were there. From the eloquent divine to tlie humblest colored 
child in that assembly every heart overflowed with sorrow. There 
was not a human face which was not dark with grief. The gloom 
was universal. With deepest, gentlest respect and tenderness the 
chosen men of his county bore the casket to the sepulcher ; and 
then, as the last crumbling clods were composed over his ashes, the 
sad and silent mourners retired with aching hearts to their homes. 
There was the monument to John W. Shackelford — the confi- 
dence, the friendship, the affection, the love, the sorrow of liis 
people. In their hearts his memory will never die, and their 
affections will better guard his tomb and his fame than the cold 
marble at Westminster Abbey or the costly mausoleum of a Roman 
emperor. 



ADDRESS OF MB. VANCE, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 31 



Address of Mr. Vance, of North Carolina. 

Tlie Great Archer has been very busy witli the Forty-seventh 
Congress, Mr. President. Thick and fast have his shafts fallen upon 
our ranks. Again and again has the orderly course of our proceed- 
ings been interrupted, and we have been compelled to pause in the 
])resenee of our dead. To this unbidden guest we must, however 
reluctantly, yield time and place; in his dread presence all earthly 
concerns must retire. 

The latest brother to pay the great debt, the last to cross the 
great river, of whose shores we can see but one, was JoHX W. 
Shackelford, a Eepresentative from the third district of North 
Carolina, who died in this city on the 18th day of January last. I 
wish to say a word concerning his life and character, with wliich 
I was intimately acquainted. 

The endowments and capacity of men are as various as the indi- 
viduals themselves, for such the manner of nature is. Some are rich 
in the gifts of genius ; of poesy that utters the songs which capti- 
vate the soul ; of oratory that sways the judgment and the emotions 
of men ; of the power to grasp scientific truth and lay bare the mys- 
teries of matter. To such, a career leading to eminence and renown 
is always open in all countries, under all forms of government. But 
it is the pride of our country and a peculiar excellence of our age 
that men can attain to high place among their countrymen also by 
the less commanding but more desirable moral attributes. 

The honored gentleman in whose commemoration we conduct 
these ceremonies was not a great orator, statesman, or popular leader, 
student, or devotee of science, but he was richly endowed with all 
those more excellent qualities of head and heart which go to make 
up the character of a valued and useful American citizen. He was 
a plain, unassuming man, full of practical common sense, upright, 
conscientious, charitable, kind, and abounding in all those high 
attributes which belong to " the noble family of truth." Not am- 
bitious of political honors, not a place-seeker by nature, it was the 



32 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF JOHN W. SHACKELFORD. 

recognition of these qualities which early caused his countrymen to 
call him from his quiet home and business to represent them in the 
Legislature of his native State. Again and again this call was re- 
peated, to both houses of that body, until finally, their confidence 
in his faithfulness to duty and to the maxims of political and per- 
sonal integrity growing by these trials, he was called to represent 
them in the National Legislature. It was in the honest dischai-ge 
of these responsible duties that the inevitable messenger overtook 
him. 

I knew him well, Mr. President. He was my friend, in the earn- 
est sense of that word, and I loved him. The faithfulness of that 
friendship was subjected to severe tests and was found pure gold. 
I sat b}' his bedside and watched his life departing, reason relaxing 
her hold, and yet struggling now and then to resume her throne, 
the light fading slowly from the eye and gently giving place to the 
ashen pallor which precedes and heralds the everlasting darkness, 
and I thought that after all my friend's lot was a happy one, and 
his career though brief liad been in the best sense successful. " Eu- 
thanasia — an easy death." In life he had made no enemies ; his 
kindliness had left him no remorse, but crowned his last hours with 
blessings ; his upright walk in the path of duty had left no bitter- 
ness of spirit. No consciousness of wrong inflicted or of trust be- 
trayed or obligation undischarged or unjust word to be recalled could 
have clouded his eyes as they gazed upon the eternal shores whither 
he was drifting. Undoubtedly he could contemplate the past and 
the future with more serenity of soul than had his life been full of 
the fierce aggression and polemic strife which usually accompany 
the politician's career in this land of turbulent democracy. 

Though his life was marked by no great events or extraordinary 
vicissitudes, it was also undimmed by a single cloud upon a good 
name, untarnished by a single "blot on the scutcheon" of an hon- 
est man. In this respect he represented the people among whom he 
lived with more than ordinary fitness. His political principles were 
chosen from sincere conviction, and he demonstrated this by labor- 
ing with disinterested zeal for their promotion, whether he was or 
was not to be personally benefited thereby. 



ADDBESS OF MB. VANCE, OF NORTH CAROLINA. 33 

A modern author has aptly said : 

The progression of man through the circle of evil is marked by three infeli- 
cities: Necessity, oblivion, and death. The deaths which follow our changes 
are so many escapes from their power. 

The philosophy of death and the state which ensued was natu- 
rally a matter of much speculation by the learned of antiquity. 
Death, says the elder DTsraeli, was the only divinity to which the 
ancients never sacrificed, convinced that no human being could turn 
aside its stroke. They raised altars to fever, to misfortune, to all 
the evils of life ; for these might change. In the beautiful fables 
of their allegorical religion, death was the daughter of night and 
the sister of sleep. "We find in the old Latin chroniclers a delicacy 
about using the word death. They did not say that their friend had 
died, but that he had lived — vixit. 

Honoring as we do the philosophical speculation of those men of 
human wisdom, we are happy in the better belief that we can say of 
our departed friend, he lives ; lives in that other and brighter sphere 
for which a just and upright career in the midst of evil had fitted 
him. The great apostle has taught us that " since by man came 
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead ; " and that 
" this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must 
put on immortality." And a great poet has said over the bier of the 
dead: 

Come away ; for Life and Thought 
Here no longer dwell, 
But in a city glorious — 
A great .and distant city — have bought 
A mansion incorruptible. 

With these hopes for our friend, having placed his body in the 
embrace of his mother earth and commended his soul to God, we 
pay this last tribute to his memory, and hold out his upright and 
virtuous life for the imitation of his family and countrymen. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Rollins in the chair). The 
question is on the resolutions offered by the Senator from North 
Carolina (Mr. Ransom). 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to ; and the Senate ad- 
journed. 

3 SH o 



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013 704 850 4 



